Saturday, January 30, 2010

I appreciate President Obama heeding my advise and start the process of governing the likes of which we haven't seen since Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan.

What we observed Friday when Obama entered the lion's den of House Republicans-only for a political retreat was classic U.S. politics at its best. Best because it was televised so we could see first hand the give and take of competing ideas.

In recent weeks I have posted columns highly disenchanted and critical of my president for his lack of leadership, specifically his failure in cajoling Congress into passing his number one priority, health care reform. After a year in office, my patience was exhausted.

Presidential historian Arthur Schlesinger wrote that the presidency is a daily learning process. I think Obama is now catching up with the curve. Little surprise, there. I always believed he was the smartest guy in the room.

He proved it Friday in a memo to his most vehement critic on Fox News, Sean Hannity, should consider -- no teleprompter.

He rattled off government data and specific details of programs faster than a computer could spit out -- with most on or close to being on mark.

He deflated what he called Republican talking points because they failed to pass what I call the smell test -- they've tried and failed in the past or fell short of what they promised.

To those in the audience who complained the Democratic leadership failed to consider their proposals, Obama told the Republicans he read them all and incorporated the best in legislation supported by the White House.

The president painted himself as a centralized, not a Bolshevik as some Republicans have alleged. That drew snickers from the group.

“I can look you in the eye and tell you we have not been obstructionists,” Representative Jason Chaffetz, a freshman from Utah, told him. Chaffetz and his cohorts resent the label "Party of No" placed on Republicans by Democrats and some members of the Obama administration. The label sprung from the fact no Republican voted for the stimulus plan and only one for the health reform bills passed by the House.

“They didn’t send us to Washington to fight each other in some sort of political steel-cage match to see who comes out alive,” Obama said. But he was tough and even defensive at times, giving no ground on policy and five times using the phrase “not true” to describe Republican statements.

The 82-minute televised session was terrific theater. We learned something from it. It's not that Obama won and the bad guys lost.

I could care less if Obama's people pulled a fast one on the GOP by insisting the session be televised. For the sake of the electorate, sessions like these should be televised regularly much like the British Parliament places the Prime Minister's feet to the fire.

What Obama accomplished Friday is only the start. It will get tougher if he can match LBJ's ramrodding Civil Rights and the Great Society down the Senate's throat. Or Reagan matching wits with Democratic Speaker Tip O'Neill to salvage Social Security.

About My View

Welcome: An intelligent and articulate discussion is desired in these days of partisan politics. These postings are commentary on national politics, current events, sports and any other stuff that generates civil conversation. My career in the newspaper business extends more than 25 years at the Klamath Falls Hearld & News, Tustin News, Orange Daily News, Santa Ana Register and San Diego Evening Tribune. Son of a vegetable farmer, I was raised in the predominately Mexican village of San Juan Capistrano. At age 11, my family moved to the nearby coastal city of Laguna Beach where body surfing became my favorite sport. I attended the private Webb School of California near Pomona. I graduated majoring in political science at the University of California at Davis. After my newspaper career, I became a landscape contractor in San Diego for 10 years and then groundskeeper for a RV resort on the bank of the Rogue River seven miles east of Gold Beach, Ore. I resumed my writing career, first with emails, and later launching this blogsite in 2007.